Advice for 18 Year Old Future Millionaire

Two of my fellow PFBloggers, Kevin from No Debt Plan and Kristy from Master Your Card recently shared advice they would have given themselves when they were 18. It got me to thinking and reflecting on how my life has shaped up in the years since I was 18 and I decided to join them by posting the advice I would give myself when I turned 18.

I have a few words of wisdom to share to myself at 18 but nothing major. I think every experience I've had from 18 to now has shaped me to become the person I am today and I very content and happy with who I am in general and also financially so I wouldn't want any radical changes.

1. Watch out for that Curb!!! -- My first semester of college I was carrying my freshly laundered clothes back to my dorm from the laundry mat and misstepped on a curb and dislocated my shoulder. Three surgeries and almost a year of physical therapy I was finally back to normal, if I had it to do all over again I'd never pile up so many clothes I couldn't see where I was going.

2. Study Abroad, the Money will work out. -- The summer between my 1st and 2nd year I had the opportunity to Study Abroad in France (to date I've never been out of the country) and after much debate and number crunching I decided against studying abroad because I was concerned that I would not have enough funds to cover that semester with out working and be able to pay tuition the following semester.

3. Stay in touch with your High School Friends. -- This is not a financial advice but good advice none the less. College is a new exciting experience and unfortunately I got distracted with new experiences in college and as the years went by I lost touch with several of my friends from high school. To date I only stay in close contact with one of my high school friends.

4. Negotiate Harder for your salary. -- In my opinion I am well compensated for my job, however I can't help but think about some of the potential I might have given up by not pushing a little harder instead of accepting the first counter offer.

5. Have Fun, Enjoy College, it ends sooner than you think (even thought its well over 4 years). -- I don't really have any regrets, but I do miss the good ole days. :)

What about you? Any good advice for yourself at 18?

The Little Things Make a Big Difference

I can honestly say this has be one of the worst work weeks I've had in a long time. The sad thing is that I don't clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel, all I see is a small light at the end which is really just a train barely towards me...

Despite the rotten week I did have one bright moment and that way this evening.

A month or so ago when I was at target I received a store coupon attached to my receipt for $2.00 off any two Garnier Fructis Hair Care Products. It just so happens that I typically use Garnier's sleek and shine shampoo and conditioner so I stuck it inside my wallet to save for when I needed to buy the next time I ran out of shampoo and conditioner.

Today on my way home from work I stopped at Target to pick up some toilet paper because Fashinoista and I were our last roll - never a good place to be. While picking up some t.p. I noticed that one of the end caps was displaying Garnier Shampoo and Conditioner on sale for $1.99 (its normally around $3 a bottle). When I see the sale I get all excited, I'm going to get to use my coupon for $2.00 off any two products and essentially get one of my bottles for free - Yay! When I stopped at the end cap to select my type of shampoo and conditioner I discovered that some of the shampoos had instant $1.00 off coupons. Its even more my lucky day for hair care - I take off two of the coupons for instant $1.00 off and grab my shampoo and conditioner and head to the check out line - I'm not quick sure if they'll accept 3 different coupons for my two bottles but it worked!!!! I bought $3.98 worth of products and had 2 each $1.00 coupons and one $2.00 coupon so I actually made money by buying shampoo and conditioner. (Hey two cents is two cents -- plus I now have a stock pile of shampoo and conditioner for when I run out of my current bottles).

I was so happy with myself for the deal I got in fact it was probably the highlight of my week, see coupons pay off.

This time when I checked out attached to my receipt was a $1.00 off any sized Colgate toothpaste. It doesn't expire until June 2 so I'm already mentally trying to figure out where to find additional coupons so that I can get my toothpaste for free too. :)

How 10 minutes saved me almost $200 a year.

This week’s Monday Money Funny about cell phones promoted me to follow some of the advice I’d found about how to lower your cell phone bill by reducing services.

I pull out my last bill and discovered I had over 7,000 unused Rollover minutes with my current cell phone I couldn’t believe how many unused minutes I had, its over 7 months worth of talking that I was wasting, so obviously I’m paying for more service than I need. I decided I need to find a plan with less minutes and of course one that would save me money. First I double checked to make sure there would not be any consequences for changing my contract provided I stay with my current provider, fortunately there are not so I’m free to change my plan.

My current monthly phone bill is $55,12 which is for a plan that includes 900 any time minutes, unlimited nights & weekends, unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile, and 200 text messages. To start looking for a new plan I went back to my last 6 months of cell phone bills to see range of minutes used.
Per months I use:
Any Time Minutes: 288-397
Nights and Weekends: 157-463
Mobile-to-Mobile: 1275 – 2754
Text Messages: 13-48

Armed with this data I went on line and investigated other plans that would fit my ranges. I found one with 450 any time minutes, 5000 nights & weekends, unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile, and 200 text messages for $44.98 plus fees and taxes after I deducting my 24% preferred employer discount the total cost would be $34.18 plus fees and taxes – I’m estimating with fess and taxes my new phone bill will be around $40. That’s a saving of $15 a month, which is a savings of $180/year for spending about 10 minutes worth of work – if only my billable rate at work were this high. :)